LONDON – Newcastle staged one of the greatest fightbacks in Premier League history on Saturday, dealing a blow to Arsenal’s title hopes to claim a 4-4 draw on a day of record scoring. The second-placed Gunners ran riot in an extraordinary opening at St James Park, sweeping into a 4-0 lead after only 26 minutes thanks to two goals from Robin Van Persie and one apiece from Theo Walcott and Johan Djourou.
But the dismissal of Abou Diaby early in the second half gave Newcastle hope and when Joey Barton scored from the penalty spot the fightback was on. A further goal from Leon Best made it 4-2 before Barton’s second penalty cut Arsenal’s lead to a single goal. With time running out Cheik Tiote lashed in a 20-yard volley on 87 minutes to complete an extraordinary comeback.
Arsenal’s draw left them four points adrift of Manchester United, who can stretch their lead to seven points with a win over Wolves later Saturday. A total of 39 goals were scored across Saturday’s seven games, breaking the previous record of 36 for goals scored in a single day of the Premier League. Third-placed Manchester City swept to a comfortable win over West Bromwich Albion at Eastlands, birthday boy Carlos Tevez netting a first-half hat-trick in a 3-0 victory.
Tevez’s treble included two from the penalty spot as the Argentinian took his goals tally for the season to 18. In a dramatic match at White Hart Lane, Niko Kranjcar struck a 90th-minute winner for Tottenham in a 2-1 victory over Bolton. Rafael Van der Vaart put Spurs ahead from the penalty spot on six minutes, and looked to have doubled his tally moments later when he buried a second spot-kick.
Referee Mark Clattenburg ruled Spurs players had encroached however and ordered the penalty to be retaken. Van der Vaart shot the same way but this time his effort went wide. Bolton looked to have done enough to earn a share of the points courtesy of a Daniel Sturridge equaliser but Kranjcar’s strike settled it for Spurs.
Elsewhere, Fulham twice came from behind to grab a share of the points in a 2-2 draw away to Aston Villa. An own-goal from John Pantsil gave Villa the lead on 13 minutes before Fulham hit back through Andrew Johnson on 52 minutes. Kyle Walker put Villa 2-1 up but Fulham’s US international midfielder Clint Dempsey equalised.
At Goodison Park, Louis Saha struck four goals as Everton came from behind to score a dramatic 5-3 win over newly promoted Blackpool. The Toffees twice took the lead through Louis Saha only for the Seasiders to level through Alex Baptiste and Jason Puncheon. With the game poised at 2-2 Blackpool captain Charlie Adam — reportedly unhappy at the failure of a transfer move to Liverpool — put Ian Holloway’s men 3-2 ahead on 67 minutes.
But Saha grabbed his third on 76 minutes before Jermaine Beckford struck a superb volley 10 minutes from time to make it 4-3. Saha then grabbed his fourth to complete the scoring. At the DW Stadium, relegation-threatened Wigan scored a vital 4-3 victory over Blackburn in a see-saw battle at the DW Stadium. Jason Roberts fired Blackburn into the lead against Wigan before the struggling Latics drew level through James McCarthy.
Hugo Rodallega and McCarthy’s second put Wigan 3-1 up, and although Blackburn pulled one back through Chris Samba, Ben Watson restored the home side’s two-goal cushion from the penalty spot. Yet David Dunn ensured a tense finale with a spot-kick on 81 minutes for Rovers as the goals continued but Wigan held on. In the early kick-off, Robert Huth scored two goals in the final 10 minutes as Stoke City came from behind to defeat Sunderland 3-2.
German defender Huth struck the winning goal in injury time after earlier equalising on 83 minutes to cancel out an Asamoah Gyan strike that had given Sunderland a 2-1 lead. Sunderland had earlier taken the lead through Kieran Richardson after two minutes before Sunderland’s new loan signing John Carew hit back on 32 minutes.
